Ireland international sides record clean sweep of competitive wins

It’s been a great week for Republic of Ireland international sides as they recorded four competitive wins out of four across the different age groups.

Ireland WU17 3-1 Hungary (UEFA Women’s Under-17 Championship Round 1)

In the first of three Round 1 games for Ireland, they got off to the perfect start with a 3-1 win over Hungary in the Sandnes Ulf Arena, Norway.

It took Abbie Larkin only three minutes to put Ireland ahead after reacting quickest to a corner-kick delivery. Jodie Loughrey double the lead twenty minutes later with Larkin through provider this time.

Larkin capped off a fine performance with a second goal in the second half. Hungary pulled one back in the 90^th minute through Adelina Molnar but James Scott’s team had the three points secured.

Ireland will now face Bulgaria on Tuesday before finishing up the Round 1 games with a game against hosts Norway on Friday.

Ireland U17 5-0 Andorra (UEFA Men’s Under-17 Championship Round 1)

Republic of Ireland U17 started their UEFA Under-17 European Championship qualifying campaign with a 5-0 win over Andorra at Turner’s Cross on Thursday evening.

Goals from Justin Ferizaj, Mark O’Mahony, Kevin Zefi, Sam Curtis, and Rocca Vata sent Ireland top of Group 5 following Poland’s 0-0 draw with North Macedonia earlier in the day at the Mardyke in Cork.

Next up for Ireland will be a game against North Macedonia in Turner’s Cross on Sunday. The Irish side will complete the round of fixtures against Poland on Wednesday.

Ireland U21 2-0 Luxembourg (UEFA Under-21 Championship Qualifying Round)

The Republic of Ireland under-21 side recorded a very impressive 2-0 win over their counterparts from Luxembourg in Group F of the UEFA under-21 Championship at Tallaght Stadium on Friday night. Goals from Ogunfaolu-Kayode and Coventry sealing the win for Jim Crawford’s side.

In the other Group F qualification matches played on Friday night, Italy had a 2-1 away win over Bosnia & Herzegovina while Sweden beat Montenegro 3-1 at home.

Ireland’s win moves them up to third position in the table with seven points, three behind leaders Sweden and two points behind second placed Italy.

Ireland face Montenegro on Tuesday in the Gradski Stadion in Podgorica.

Azerbaijan 0-3 Ireland (World Cup Qualifier)

The Republic of Ireland recorded a 3-0 victory away to Azerbaijan thanks to goals from Callum Robinson and Chiedozie Ogbene in Baku.

This was the first win of the 2022 FIFA World Cup qualifying campaign for Ireland and manager Stephen Kenny’s first completive victory.

Ireland U19 2-2 Sweden (Friendly)

The Republic of Ireland’s Men's Under-19s were forced to settle for a draw in the first of their friendly double-header with a talented Sweden side, who battled from two goals down to make it 2-2 in Marbella on Friday afternoon.

Goals from Evan Caffrey and Zak Gilsenan had given Ireland a 2-0 lead by the midway point in the first half but a penalty from Ahmed Qasem before the break and a finish from Arash Motaraghebjafarpour in the second half was enough to earn the Swedish a share of the spoils.

Tom Mohan’s side will face each other again on Monday 11^th October with a kick-off of 11am.